Renewable Energy
(coming very soon) |Nature:/2018/Tollefson/Can the world kick its fossil-fuel addiction fast enough?> |Nature:/2018/Green power in Europe comes at a cost> "Greenhouse-gas emissions drop sharply as renewable sources such as solar and wind power replace fossil fuels. But such a swap creates challenges for utility companies, because the availability of renewable power varies with weather and time of day. To understand the impact of this transition, Seán Collins at University College Cork in Ireland and his colleagues modelled Europe’s electricity system, factoring in 30 years of historical weather data from across the continent. In a scenario assuming a high proportion of renewables, yearly greenhouse-gas emissions fell by nearly 77% between 2015 and 2030. Under the same conditions, the annual cost of generating electricity increased by just under 7%, and year-to-year variation in costs jumped five-fold. " https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S254243511830285X?via%3Dihub Solar PV (coming soon) Australia’s solar juggernaut is coming – quicker than anyone thinks - LinkedIn By Giles Parkinson, October 17, 2017 "The fact that solar will become the dominant energy source appears to be under no doubt, even the International Energy Agency admits it. And the CSIRO and AEMO appear to be in agreement that even behind the meter solar will account for around half of all demand by the 2040s or 2050s. But what if it happened a lot quicker than that? Australia’s grid prices have jumped again to absurdly high levels, and this has lit a fire under the rooftop solar market, which will be followed by a major push by corporate buyers into the large-scale market. The solar sector could boom in ways not previously imagined." ... "Of course, having a lot more solar – some 55GW – and accompanying storage, changes the situation dramatically, and highlights how the business model for energy markets will have to change significantly. “By that time we are basically down to just a few coal-fired power stations – batteries and other storage will do it the rest of the time,” he says. “It just underlines how storage has got the most significant role to play in the future grid … and how close we are to the closure of most coal-fired power stations.”" Solar Thermal (coming soon) Solar Desalination https://phys.org/news/2019-06-hot-efficiency-solar-desalination.html Engineers boost output of solar desalination system by 50% https://old.reddit.com/r/Futurology/comments/c26y13/us_engineers_boost_output_of_solar_desalination/ Hydro (coming soon) NB: not truly renewable Wind (coming soon) Other Wave (coming soon) Geothermal (coming soon) Biomass :"Alternatives to burning trees for electricity do exist. Wood or agricultural materials that would otherwise end up in a landfill or burned are the preferred alternatives. In addition, the use of sustainably grown agricultural crops or the limited use of the tops and limbs of trees might represent better options for reducing carbon emissions than using whole trees. However, the use of these sources can result in significant, negative environmental impacts unless strict sustainability standards are adopted." :"In the early 2000’s biofuels were seen as one among many solutions to climate change. However, further research has increasingly argued that many biofuels may actually emit more GHG than fossil fuels due to deforestation and land use change. In addition, deforestation linked to biofuels in Europe has led to biodiversity loss, land conflict, labor issues, and indigenous right issues in places as far away as Indonesia, Brazil, and Tanzania. :Critics indicate biofuels not only compete with feeding a growing global population but also contribute to deforestation because some of these crops require a great amount of land, so forested areas may be cut down or burned to make way for agricultural expansion. :"Critics say growth in biomass fuel could greatly intensify deforestation. Every 1 percent increase in biomass electricity production requires an 18 percent increase in U.S. forest harvest, according to the U.S. Energy Information Agency. :Air pollution is another concern. “Emissions from a biomass plant exceed those from a natural gas plant by more than 800 percent for every major pollutant,” according to a study by ecologist Mary S. Booth, Ph.D." ---- }} Category:Energy Category:Sustainability Category:Climate Category:Renewable Energy